In-situ construction of ultrathin MoP-MoS2 heterostructure on N, P and S co-doped hollow carbon spheres as nanoreactor for efficient hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Rational design hierarchical nano-heterojunction electrocatalysts with high activity and durability for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are attractive for sustainable energy conversion. Here, one-step and space-confine pyrolysis strategy is demonstrated to in-situ construct ultrathin MoP-MoS2 heterostructure on N, P and S co-doped hollow carbon spheres (MoP-MoS2/HCSs) that present remarkable HER performance. The intimate contact among MoP outer-layer, MoS2 intermediate layer and N, P and S co-doped HCSs inner-layer facilitates the formation of triple-shelled heterogeneous nanoreactor. Benefiting from abundant active sites, high specific surface area, heteroatomic doping, intimate catalyst-substrate contact and ultrathin active heterostructure, the resulting MoP-MoS2/HCSs not only displays significant electrocatalytic activity with low overpotentials (71 mV and 125 mV in 1.0 M KOH and 0.5 M H2SO4, respectively) at current density of 10 mA cm−2, but exhibits outstanding stability toward HER process. This study offers a promising approach to design hierarchical nano-heterojunction with remarkable electrochemical properties for green energy development.